LinkSets™ - The Guide to using LinkSets

What is a LinkSet?

A LinkSet is a group of up to 3 URL's and Link Text.

What do LinkSets Do?

LinkSets allow advertisers to define multiple sets of Link Texts and URL's to be used in purchased posts. The LinkSet system will automatically rotate through all of the defined LinkSets for an Opportunity and assign them to bloggers as purchases are made. Alternatively the advertiser has the ability to manually assign a specific LinkSet to a blogger upon time of purchase.

Why Should I use LinkSets?

LinkSets allow you to easily build links to many pages on your site without having to manually switch out the Link Text and URL’s in the opportunity. It also allows you to create a natural looking backlink profile with the search engines. Using the same Link Text in many of your backlinks leaves an unnatural footprint that the search engine can use to easily spot artificial link building campaigns.

How Do I Start Using LinkSets?

While creating or editing an opportunity you are able to add additional LinkSets in the “Links and Content” section. Click on the “Add Additional Links” link at the bottom of that section. LinkSets can be added one at a time or can be uploaded via a CSV.

How Can LinkSets be Used to Insure a Natural Looking Link Building Campaign

LinkSets allow you to easily randomize the anchor texts and links used in your purchased posts. We highly suggest you create as many LinkText/URL variations as possible. A conservative approach would be to use a unique LinkSet for every 3-5 posts purchased; the more variation the better.

Variation is especially important following Google’s 2012 Penguin update. A large portion of the Penguin update focused on devaluing links that appeared to be unnatural due to a duplication of anchor text across many sites, which is not commonly found in nature.

We highly suggest you utilize a mixture of Keyword, Brand, and “other” types of Anchor text.

If you selected Content Repost/Rewrite as the Post type our system will require you to add a URL or Upload a document in each Linkset. You must enter the required links in the Linkset for Content Repost/Rewrite. If you selected Content Repost you also must place the links in the content you have provided.

What happens if no other Linksets are available?

Our system will rotate through all required LinkSets/Content automatically, and will default to the “default” LinkSet if no other LinkSets have available quantities. Set the quantity to 9999 if you do not want to limit the usage of a specific LinkSet.

How Does the System Assign Out the LinkSets?

The system will assign a linkset to every blogger you buy a post from. The system will begin with the first LinkSet and then assign the next and the next and so on until it has reached your last LinkSet. Once reaching the Last LinkSet the system will start again from the top.

In Addition, the LinkSets system will automatically normalize the number of completed posts it assigns for each LinkSet. What do we mean by "Normalize"? Normalize means that if for whatever reason one LinkSet gets less links then the others, the system will automatically assign posts to the LinkSet with the least number of completed posts. For example, there will be times when bloggers who have been assigned a LinkSet will not finish the post in time and it will get cancelled. When that happens that LinkSet will have 1 less completed then the rest of the LinkSets. With our normalization process the system will automatically insure that each LinkSet gets the same number of links over time.

Example: If you have 3 LinkSets and you bought 9 Posts, each of the LinkSets would have been assigned 3 times. However 2 of the bloggers for one of the LinkSets did not complete the job in the 7 day period but the rest of the posts were completed. You would end up with 3 completed for one LinkSet, 3 for the other, and 1 for the LinkSet that had cancelled jobs. The next time you purchase posts the system will first assign 2 jobs from the LinkSet that was short 2 in order to "normalize" the numbers.

What if I don’t want the same number of Posts for each LinkSet?

There are a couple of strategies for buying an uneven number of posts for a LinkSet. You can:

Use the Quantity Field for the Linkset – Let’s say you wanted 10 posts for one set of links and 20 for another. You could simply set the number of posts you want to that number and the system will stop assigning bloggers the LinkSet with the quantity set to 10 once that number is reached. It will then only assign the LinkSet with 20. Please note that once the system has completed all the required posts for each LinkSet it will then start assigning the Default Links. You will want to make sure to update your quantities prior to that happening. If you want to keep the same ration you can then just go in and set the LinkSet with 10 to 20 and the LinkSet with 20 to 30.